The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-06-02
Duties Yet Remaining for the Republican
Party to Perform--A Speech Which WillBe
Heartily Endorsed by ALI Republicans.

short time 1000 people crowded into the
galleries. capable. ordinarily, of holding only
500, and the more favored, to the number of
fifteen hundred, were admitted to the floor of
the House.
As Senator Sherman. accompanied by Gov.
Oglesby, Senators Cullom and Farwell, the
State officers and the mem bers of the managing
committee, entered the hall, at twenty minutes
to 3. there was loud and continued applause.
Senator Sherman introduced by Governor
Oglesby. and began speaking ten minutes before
o'clock. He said:
Fellow citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen--It is
with unaffected diffidence that | accepted the
Invitation of officers and members of the Legis-
lature of Illinois to speak to You here the
political issues of the day, for / know that they
have been presentedto you by many eminent
statesmen and orators of your State in far
more attractive manner than could hope to
copy. Still. / regarded this invitation q cali
inspiration that springs from this fountain of
political intelligence. And now that have seen
your city, have met you here, and have been
received SO cordially. do not regret my coming.
What you desire of me. presume, is state
ment of my view of the principles and tenden-
cies OF the two great political parties OF the
country, for they must be tested by these and
not by independent opinions or partial differ
ences which always exist These principles are
the natural outgrowth of the contest over the
institution of slavery that has continued since
the commencement of the government, but it
was not until the repeal of the Missouri Conn
promise, and the great debate that occurred in
Illinois between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen
A. Douglas, that the philosophy OF slavery was
fully presented before popular audiences. 1t
was this debate that led to the nomination of
Mr. Lincoln and made him the first Republican
President of the United States.
Then also was shown the destructive teEden-
cies of the institution of slavery aud its mastery
over the Democratic party- Because Mr. Doug
las would not agree to it's extreme demand Id
broke mp the Charleston convention and do
stroyed his last hope of success. When Lincoln
was elected it fred upon Fort Sumter and COM
menced the war that covered our land with
heroic dead, and left among hundreds OF
thousands of manned, wounded and invalid SOL
diers, and the widows of those who perished.
But, thank God, this struggle slavery COM
mtted suicide, and the good time which Lincoln
hoped would come in the far future. came by the
attempt at secession, and it was his hand that
wrote the decree of eternal justice that abol-
ished slavery forever
It the Republican party that guided the
ship of state through the perils and storms OF
civil 1t marshaled armies built navies,
improvised a currency which to this day is the
best ever devised In peace or war. 1t borrowed
immense sums of money. and yet laid the founda-
ton of a public credit higher in the markets Of
the world than that of any nation in our own or
in ancient times. 1t also established public
policy of taxation which. improved since the war.
has flied our Treasury to overhowing with rev.
enue, and yet has encouraged. developed,
fostered and protected our industries that we
can dig from our mines, make in our own work
products of nature and every article of necessity,
convenience or luxury essential to the highest
civilization.
What did the Democratic party do during
these trying times? That many thousand DEM
ocrats did their full share in maintaining the
government, both in the field and in the public
councils, must be conceded by every fair-mInded
man, and the highest credit must be given to
them for their patriotism, courage and devotion
to duty. Chief of these at the beginning Of the
contest was Stephen A. Douglas. No man
doubts that if he had lived he would have stood
at the right hand of Lincoln in the Senate, and
in the field would have maintained the honor of
the flag and the integrity of the Union, and, like
Lincoln and Grant. would never have yielded
until the last rebel had laid down his arms in
unconditional surrender. His speech made in
the old State house here, on the 2oth day of
April, 1861, after Mr.. Lincoln's first call for
troops, is full of passages of the most earnest
patriotism. General Logan says of it:
He taught his audtory-he taught his country, for
his speeches teegraphed all over 1.-THE duty OF
patriotism at that perous hour of the Nations hfe
He implored both Democrats and Republicans to lay
aside their party creeds and Platforms to dispense
with party organizations and party appeals; TO forget
that they divided until they had first rescued
the government from its assailants- his Arguments
clear convincing and unanswerabe; his appeals
for the salvation of his country, irresistible.
again he spoke in Chicago in the same strain.
end for the last time, for his vital forces
exhausted. and on the Sd of June, 1861, before
the great drama had fairly commenced, he slept
his last sleep. Fortunately for his fame ne left
behind him his nearest friend and disciple, a
man who shared his counsel perhaps more close
iy than any other. who entered at once into the
military service or his country. and, from the
beginning to the close of the war; was gallant
soldier, the very spirit of ch1valry; brave.
strong; leading when he commanded. and shar-
ing with his soldiers all the privations and dan
gers of war.
John A. Logan lived the life that believe
Douglas would have lived il death had spared
him. And now the marble images of Lincoln
and Douglas stand side by side in the rotunda
of this Capitol, once adversaries in debate, then
friends, and now saints alike in the galaxy OF
the patriotic dead of the Republic. The marble
statue of Logan should complete the triumvirate.
Bnt what was the course of the Democratic
party during the civil warl Emasculated by tho
loss of the patriotic mon who entered the service
of their country IN the time of its peril 1t was
the representative of all the disioyal elements of
our country.
It gathered in its folds Knights of the Golden
Circle. the mob rioters of New York, and the
bounty jumpers and shirks. 1t held reasonable
correspondence with rebel emlSsarles on our
Canadian border and conveyed intelligence to
the enemy in most critical periods of the war.
1t availed itself of the apathy OF critical mo-
ments, and seized upon the temporary advantage
caused by the issuing of the proclamation OF
President Lincoln and the absence OF our
soldiers in the field, snatched victories at the
elections with view TO cripple aud weaken the
administration ard, next TO the armed forces
under General Lee, the most dangerous
enemy of the Republic during the fearful four
years struggle of civil war. IL sought.
under the cry of illegal arrests, to make
prominent citizen of Ohio, who had melted riots
ana resistance the draft, Governor of ONO.
1t met in concave at Chicago when General
Grant was fighting his way in the Wilderness
and General sherman was at the gates or At
lanta, and declared the war failure, demanded
peace any terms and n cessation OF HOSTILE
ties and placed upon this platform Union sol
dIer of merit, who promptly and In emphatic
language in his letter of acceptance. repndiated
the dsloyal position in which the platform
sought to place him. / doubt if the civil history
of any government presents a more unpatriotic
ds~hn Ala